What Is Culturally Informed Literacy Instruction? A Review of Research in P–5 Contexts

Abstract

This critical, integrative qualitative review explores how researchers approach, describe, and justify culturally relevant, culturally responsive, or culturally sustaining literacy instruction in prekindergarten through fifth-grade (P–5) classrooms. We reviewed 56 studies published between 1995 and 2018. We documented terms researchers use, theorists cited, methods, student outcomes, and student populations. We also analyzed how researchers talked about achievement gaps, addressed their own positionality, and determined that specific literacy instructional practices were culturally informed. We found that researchers most commonly claim to document culturally relevant or responsive instruction, in some cases conflating the terms and related theorists. Most studies were qualitative, occurred with traditionally marginalized students (usually Black or Latinx) in the United States, and involved students reading a text that researchers deem culturally informed. We make recommendations for teachers and researchers to move the field of culturally informed literacy forward.

A community cultural wealth analysis of newcomer student writing: Identifying strengths

“…Yet she stressed to the college class that the newcomers did not owe us their stories. Working with youth from colonized backgrounds from a position of privilege and power produces weighty obligations, and researchers should interrogate their own positionality carefully (Kelly et al, 2021). We hope to have painted a picture of strength without glossing over the challenges, injustices, and tensions that newcomers face.…”

What Does Culturally Informed Literacy Instruction Look Like?

“…75 No. 5 March/April 2022 literacyworldwide.org relevant, responsive, and sustaining because of their historical links to each other and the common use of these terms (Kelly et al, 2021). Through documenting the work of successful teachers of African American children, Ladson-Billings (1995 theorized culturally relevant teaching.…”

“…This article is based on our critical, qualitative, integrative review of 56 peer-reviewed studies that described either culturally relevant, culturally responsive, or culturally sustaining literacy instruction with P-5 students (Kelly et al, 2021). Before sharing lessons for teachers from that review (the purpose of this article), we provide an overview of that review's findings.…”

“…However, she wondered: were others making similar mistakes in their attempts to develop culturally informed literacy instruction? Laura partnered with a team of five additional researchers to conduct a systematic review of culturally informed literacy instruction (Kelly et al, 2021).…”

Using a Culturally Responsive Lens in the Revision of a Core Preparation Course

“…Culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) builds upon the research and thinking of culturally relevant and culturally responsive pedagogy (Kelly et al, 2021). According to Paris (2012), who suggested the concept, CSP "requires that they [teachers] support young people in sustaining the cultural and linguistic competence of their communities while simultaneously offering access to dominant cultural competence" (p. 95).…”